If you haven't played Notrium yet, check this review: Notrium Review: "They Mostly Come Out At Night... Mostly"
Some kind of a strange cult badgered me to release Bikez II as open source, so in the spirit of celebrating the soon to be 10-year-old game, I'm releasing the sources: bikez2_opensource_2011_01_15.zip
A couple of things you need to know if you're interested in it. It's ten years old, and I had been programming for about three years at the time. So it's not pretty. I'm not going to help you understand the code, but if you make a new version, I'd be happy to distribute it. You'll need DirectX SDK 8 to compile it. I included the project files for Visual Studio 2008, I guess it needs a few changes to work with other compilers.
You're allowed to do anything you want with this. Including the sources, pictures, 3D models and sounds. Heck, start selling it if you want to. If you get famous because of this, you have to say it's all thanks to me. 
Here comes a new version of Driftmoon! As always, preorderers can access it on the secret download page. If you haven't preordered yet, you can get your copy for only 11,99€!
What's new
The most important new thing is that I've further improved the start of the game. This paragraph contains plot spoilers, so skip this if you don't want to know. Now you go into the tomb in search of your brother Robert, whom you'll eventually find after proving your worth to Eldar in a new quest. The Blessed Heart artifact is no longer stolen from you at the end of the first level, instead you can beat the bastard who in the previous version stole it from you. There's a new race of baddies, the lizardlike Rakan with a hissing speech impediment.We've also meticulously tuned the game balance. The level bosses now require more strategic thinking to beat them. The new boss in the tomb level has a sword of dark flame that he can activate for short periods, and the spider boss now has a poison attack.
| One of my favourite improvements is the addition of Evil Berry Seeds. You can plant them anywhere, and they supply you with new food every two minutes or so. It's good to have a few of them around in case you run out of food in some nasty dungeon. Or you could drop them to central locations and refill your food supply when you need to. The idea came from Notrium of course, but I thought it suited Driftmoon well. |  |
Game changelog:
- Improved the plot at the start of the game, especially the first level. Many tweaks and changes to the existing levels.
- Improved level bosses.
- Items dropped from dead enemies now show their names longer, making them easier to see.
- Randomized the torch sound and the dragging sound starting positions. Now they sound less echoing.
- Better poison effects, and antidote!
- More frequent autosaving.
- If the player is attacked in a conversation, he will automatically start fighting back.
- You can find Evil Berry Seeds that you can plant anywhere to create a permanent food source.
- Karma system. Certain deeds will gain or lose you karma. Your karma will affect certain characters, as well as prices in shops. I just haven't made any shops yet...
Modding changelog:
- Add three script activation options: Start, Death and Never. Start activates the script immediately at the beginning of the level. Death scripts are activated when the bot dies, they are only applicable for bots. Never means the script can only be activated by other scripts.
- Improved script edit view. Scripts take less space, so more complex scripts are easier to edit. Different script types are now color coded. Scripts can be dragged instead of moving one location at the time.
- Explosion script action. Makes all nearby objects fly away as in an explosion. It's not very realistic, but it's better than nothing.
- Dialogue replies can now be referenced from other dialogues. This is useful for conversation hubs, where the player can ask the same set of questions in reply to several NPC replies.
- Script actions to wield/unwield an item.
- Dynamic lights (such as torches) can have negative values = dark lights!
I guess I'm going to focus on the monastery level next. I've got a good plan, and a few buildings are nearly in place already.
I was going to release a new version of Driftmoon, but I'm afraid my dev computer just saw it's last moments. While we wait, here's a new part in the series of me replaying some of my older games.
We're on to part 4, Bikez II. This game is from the year 2001, and it uses the same engine as my previous game The Forge. I think I did the whole game in about 5 months. From the screenshots you would say that it's a GTA 3 clone, but of course Bikez came out a bit before that. It reminds me mostly of Carmageddon, but I hadn't heard of it when I made Bikez II.Bikez II is also my most downloaded game. Recently it's been picked up in China. I guess the success is due to the fact that it runs on pretty much any old computer, and it looks like a decent action game in screenshots.
My first reaction to starting the game is to turn off the music, it feels pretty out of place. The controls are non-intuitive, you have to press 1,2,3 and 4 to activate your weapons. But driving the motorcycle feels pretty good and fast, especially if your target is farther away.
The game is entirely mission based. You get a mission by finding a fella who looks like you, apparently it's your gang outfit, and by pressing enter while stopped near him. Usually you end up killing him, because if you drive near a citizen he'll be chopped to pieces.
For some reason the entire police force of the city is after you, so if you stop at any time, you're likely to get hit by a homing missile.
I disliked the missions that involved killing other motorcycles - they're nearly impossible to hit. The best missions were the ones where you had to drive to a location quickly. Maybe it should actually be a messenger game or a racing game. At least to me the combat mechanics were the worst part.
You can upgrade your weapons, but I ended up wasting all of my money fixing the motorcycle after each mission. The homing bullets system reminds me of Judge Dredd comics from my youth.
I think with a little graphics update, and focusing on the racing part of the game it could actually be pretty good for a few minutes play.
If you're feeling adventurous, head on to the Bikez II download page and tell me what you thought of it. It's only 3 MB, and pretty quick to start, so it should be easy to check out.
Have a look at our new Driftmoon ad that our friends got us!
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